INSEAD MBA Interview
INSEAD is among the few b-schools that require two interviews from every selected applicant. However, their interviews are friendly and conversational and not stress inducing.
Duration: 30 minutes to 1 hour
Format: By Invitation only
Who conducts them? INSEAD interviews are always conducted by alumni. Every applicant is interviewed by two alumni, typically matched based on your industry, functional background or geography.
Location: Interviews are conducted either in person or online, on platforms like Zoom/ Google Meet.
Interview invitation timing: INSEAD notifies selected applicants within approximately six weeks of receiving completed applications. They follow this up with another email to provide the names and contact details of your two alumni interviewers.
Applicants not selected for interview are also informed at this stage.
How to schedule the interview:
Once you receive your interviewers’ contact details, you are expected to reach out to each of them and fix a mutually convenient date, time and format (in-person or online). You are asked to share a PDF of your application along with your resume with the interviewers. If you prefer, you can remove your motivation essays and share the rest of the application.
Both the INSEAD MBA interviews must be completed within a deadline provided in the invitation email.
Interview Process: Interviews usually last about an hour each. They are conversational with a mix of resume based and behavioral questions. The purpose of the interview is to get to know you better and determine your fit with INSEAD. As the interviewers have access to your application form, they may ask for clarifications or deeper insights into the content you provided. So, be prepared to answer questions about your career decisions, your motivation for certain projects or responsibilities and your leadership experiences.
Most interviewers are friendly and towards the end of the interview, extensively share their experiences at INSEAD. So research the backgrounds of your interviewers and go prepared with some meaty questions to ask them. These can be related to the interviewers’ backgrounds and their experience at INSEAD.
Common Interview questions:
Career Related:
Walk me through your resume / Tell me about yourself.
Give me two things you would like to highlight from your resume.
Explain your career choices (From undergraduate to now).
Tell me about your reasons for each professional move.
Elaborate on your responsibilities for your full-time jobs.
Follow-up questions on your job
Goals and INSEAD related:
What is your short-term goal and why?
Why MBA? Why is now the right time?
Why INSEAD? How would INSEAD help you achieve career goals?
What do you see yourself doing 10 years after MBA?
What’s your plan B if you couldn’t fulfill your immediate goals?
What are your geography preferences post-MBA?
How do you see the value of MBA considering the gloomy economic conditions and job market, how do you evaluate the risks and returns?
Which starting campus have you selected and why?
Will you do an exchange? Explain why/ why not.
What will you contribute to the program/ your study group?
In what ways would you get involved in the INSEAD’s community?
What would you bring to the INSEAD community?
Which other colleges have you applied to?
What will you do if you are not accepted to INSEAD?
How would you prioritize coping up with so many offerings at INSEAD?
Behavioural Questions:
Diversity:
Tell me about cultural differences you have experienced working with colleagues from different regions.
What have you learnt from someone who has a different background than you?
Tell me a time when you worked with people from different cultures? What do you wish you had done differently?
Tell me about a time when you had an experience with diversity.
There are many different nationalities and languages in the INSEAD class. How would you work through related challenges?
How would you work in a study group with peers from different backgrounds?
Leadership:
What is your management/ Leadership style?
Tell me about your most significant leadership experience.
Tell me about a professional achievement that you feel very proud of and why?
Tell me a time you led a team. What was your role?
Tell me about a time when you convinced someone, what was the result?
Challenges and Failures:
Tell me about a challenge in your life and how you overcame it.
Tell me about a time you failed in a professional setting.
Have you ever had an experience where there was a conflict of opinion or interest?
Have you ever had to be confrontational with a colleague or subordinate?
Tell me about a time you received criticism and how you reacted to it.
Tell me about a time when you had an uncomfortable conversation at work?
Tell me about your strengths and weakness.
What do you love to do outside of work? What’s your passion?
Any questions for the interviewer